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It’s the Final Round of the Marx Foods Integrale Gauntlet! My final entry not only fuses the great Italian Integrale rice with some of the flavors of Mexico, but I also have found a way to add the cuisine of another of my favorite countries, Japan! Yes, that’s right folks, I present to you Mexican Sushi made with Italian Integrale rice! I really wanted to show everyone the versatility of this great product, and I think with the three entries I have made for the Integrale Gauntlet, from a risotto, to a rice pudding, and now sushi, I have really given this Italian short grain

Sushito Integrale

One may ask the question, What is Mexican Sushi? Well, it is not much different from the classic Japanese sushi that we all know and love. It just simply utilizes some Mexican flavors to kick up the volume. We replace the wasabi placed under the nigiri (a slice of raw fish on a thumb sized chunk of rice) with chipotle, add in a little jalapeno in our futomaki ( or “fat” roll) , some ripe avocado, toss in a little cilantro and we have our Mexican Sushi!

One of the challenges of making this dish was trying to get the Integrale rice to play the role of the classic Japanese sushi rice. I found that you need to tweek two parts in the process. I found that you needed to soak the rice for a extended period of time before cooking. I also needed to decrease the amount of water used in the preparation of the rice or else the rice becomes too much like dough.

Once I had cooked and seasoned my rice, I wanted to make two different types of rolls for my entry. I wanted to make the classic Futomaki, a seaweed encased sushi roll filled with cucumber, carrot, jalepeño, and a hint of my chipotle mayo. I call this the “Chilango” roll, a complete vegan roll inspired by the chic urban youth of Mexico City. Next on my list was the “Mexicali’ roll. This is a Uramaki, or an inside-out roll. This type of roll is a bit more challenging because you have to flip the nori (the seaweed) over once the rice is spread out. For this roll I wanted to meld the flavors of smoked salmon, green onion, cream cheese, cilantro, and finally some avocado. Now there was one more roll I wanted to make, but my rice supply was dwindling, so I set to making the Nigiri.

Chilango Futomaki and the Mexicali Uramaki

This is a fairly simple preparation that involves making a thumb-sized oblong portion of rice and slapping a piece of raw fish on top. I wanted to kick it up a bit and I slathered my chipotle mayo over the bottom side of the fish and then placed it on the rice. I had a beautiful portion of sushi-grade Ahi tuna, some smoked salmon (smoked locally in Maine of course!) , and some fresh jumbo shrimp.

The Nigiri

So here we are, two plates of delicious Italian-Mexican-Japanese inspired sushi! Grab an Asahi or some Saki and Kanpai!!!

Integrale Sushi Rice

1 cup of Integrale Rice

1/2 cup of rice vinegar

1/2 tsp kosher salt

1/2 tsp organic sugar

2 cups of water

Place the rice in a large glass bowl and rinse the rice with cold water for 10 minutes or until the water become clear and no longer cloudy. You are rinsing all the starch from rice.

Soak the rice in cold water for at least 1 hour.

Dump the rice into a fine mesh sieve and allow to drain for at least 30 minutes.

Place into a rice cooker and add the 2 cups of water.

Set cooker to Cook and let it go!

Once the switch resets to warm, allow the rice to steam for about 15 minutes.

Remove the rice, using a wooden spoon, to a non-reactive bowl to season the rice.

Place the rice vinegar, salt, and sugar in a cup and put in microwave for 15 seconds. We just want to dissolve the salt and sugar to make a solution.

Now season the rice with vinegar solution.

Allow the rice to cool to room temperature.

Chilango Roll

3/4 cup sushi rice.

1 nori sheets

Carrot

Cucumber

Jalepeno

Chipotle Mayo

Take a nori sheet. Place it on the mat, with the shiny side facing down.

Grab a handful of prepared sushi rice, and spread it gently over the nori – about 1cm high. There’s no need to press the rice onto the nori, only spread it.

Line up the cucumber, carrot, jalepeño on the roll.

Spread a bit of the chipotle mayo on the vegetables.

Roll.

Cut into 8 equal pieces. For best results first cut in half, then cut each half into two, and then again.

Best served with soy sauce, pickled ginger (gari) and wasabi.

Chilango Roll and Mexicali Roll

Mexicali Roll

3/4 cup sushi rice.

1 nori sheets

Smoked Salmon

Green Onion

Avocado

Cream Cheese

Cilantro

Black and white sesame seeds

Wrap your bamboo mat with plastic wrap. This is necessary in order to prevent rice from sticking to the mat.

Take a nori sheet, and break it in half. Place one half on the mat, with the shiny side facing down.

Grab a handful of prepared sushi rice, and spread it gently over the nori – about 1cm high. There’s no need to press the rice onto the nori, only spread it.

Sprinkle a spoonful of black and white sesame seeds evenly over the rice.

Flip the nori so that the rice is now facing down.

Line up the green onion, smoked salmon, avocado, cilantro and some cream cheese on the roll.

Roll.

Cut into 8 equal pieces. For best results first cut in half, then cut each half into two, and then again.

If you ever get to travel to Mexico’s Gulf Coast, you will find that Mexicans really know their fish; it’s not all just about tacos and Ceviche!

I had some fresh Haddock filets that I wanted to cook and my family does not particularly like the standard approach New Englanders take to their seafood; often deep-fried in heavy breading, or baked, drowned in butter and topped with crackers. Sometimes, there is nothing better than whipping up some beer-batter, deep-fry those filets, and have yourself some luscious Baja Fish Tacos, but were looking for something a bit more healthy! As I went through the recipe Rolodex in my head, I remembered a recipe that I once read in Diana Kennedy’s The Essential Cusines of Mexico for Pescado en Cilantro. In her version she uses snapper, but I had no access to fresh snapper, so I improvised and used the haddock instead!

What I really like about this dish is the sauce. The chile, onion, and cilantro flavors combined with the fiery juice from the can of chiles make for a unique combination. To accompany this dish, I decided on using my go-to recipe of Saffron Rice. I just love the flavor of saffron with seafood.

You can go about the preperation two different ways. You can make the sauce and add the sauce to the casserole dish halfway through cooking, or you can simply drizzle it on the fish once you plate. I, out of sheer forgetfulleness (I wanted to cook the fish in the sauce to add the flavors of the fish and lime), ended up drizzling the sauce around the rice. It all turned out well in the end, the acidity and heat of the cilantro sauce complimented well with the fish and rice. After all, the taste of the sea, the chiles, cilantro, and saffron seem to be a match hard to beat!

Bacalao en Cilantro

(Baked Haddock in a cilantro sauce)

2-3 pounds haddock or cod, cut into 6 ounce portions.

1 onion, sliced

3 Jalepeños em escabeche

1 cup of cilantro, packed

1/3 cup lime juice

3 tablespoons juice from the chile can

8 tablespoons olive oil

Preheat oven to 400°F

Cut the fish into 6 ounce portions

Pour 2 tablespoons of olive oil into a saute pan and saute the onions over medium high heat for about 5-6 minutes.

In a casserole dish pour the lime juice and lay down half the onions.

Season the fish with salt and pepper and place the fish on the bed of lime juice and onions, drizzle 2 tablespoons of oilve oil and place the rest of the onions on the fish

Cover with foil and bake in oven for about 20-25 minutes, depending on the thickness of the fish.

Take a clove of garlic, the jalepeños, the juice from the chile can and the cilantro and place into a 3 cup food processor, drizzle in the remaining olive oil with the motor running.

When the fish is cooked, serve by laying down the saffron rice, top the rice with onions and a piece of the fish. At this point you can drizzle on the sauce or spoon it along the circumference of the rice. Top with chopped cilantro and serve!

Bacalao con Cilantro

Saffron Rice

1 1/2 cups white jasmine or basmati rice

1/4 white onion diced

1 garlic clove minced

1/4 teaspoon Saffron threads

2 1/2 cups water

1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt

Place the water, saffron, and salt in a small saucepan and bring to a boil, then turn off to let the saffron steep.

Heat oil in a 5-quart heavy pot over medium-high heat until it shimmers.

Add onion, rice, and garlic to the pot and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 2 minutes

Add the saffron mixture and bring to a simmer.

Reduce heat to low and cook, covered, until water is absorbed and rice is tender, 18 to 20 minutes.

Now I usually take all week to dream up some creation to share with all of you on Monday, but I just could not resist this evening. Tonight was fish night, so I stopped by my friendly neighborhood fish monger, Taylor’s Lobster, and picked out a nice 1 pound portion of fresh halibut fillet.

Chipotle Baisted Halibut

So how did I know the fish I was buying was fresh? Let me tell you how to

make sure the fish you are buying is fresh. First look at the fillet, as a fish sits around, its flesh will of course, decay, so look at the flesh of the fish, the color will begin to fade. Salmon will become less red and vibrant, whitefish such as cod or in our case, halibut, will become more dull and faded, not the bright fresh white that you want to see. Next, if your fish monger lets you (any quality fish guy or gal will let you), ask to hold the fillet, and then smell it. It should of course smell like the sea, but it should not have any pungent aromas. Finally, touch the fish, press it with your finger, the flesh should be responsive and spring back. If your fingerprint remains, then it is not a fresh piece of fish. Now that we know the halibut I had was fresh, let me tell you how I prepared it, what I served it with, and how I BOTCHED the plating!

So take that 1 pound of beautiful fish, rinse it under cold water, pat it dry with some paper towel, take a sharp chef’s knife and divide it up into 3 portions (smoke coming from my head as I take 16 ounces and divide it by three). Squeeze some grapefruit juice (about 1 tablespoon) over the fish, and lightly salt the fish. Take a non-reactive mixing bowl, preferably stainless steel or glass, and take 1/8 of a cup of adobo sauce (just strain the entire can) from a can of chipotles (La Costena of course!), another tablespoon of grapefruit juice into the bowl, and 1 finely minced clove of garlic. Then slowly whisk in 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil into the bowl. Now you have your basting sauce.

Preheat the oven to 425F. Brush a bit of the chipotle sauce on a baking pan, then place the halibut on top of the sauce so it will not stick to the pan. Brush a generous portion of basting sauce on top of the fish and put it in the oven. Now the general rule of thumb with fish is 10 minutes per inch of thickness. So my fillet is about 1 inch thick, I am going to set a timer for 5 minutes. Why am I going to set a timer for 5 minutes? Halibut is not an oily fish, so it will dry out if cooked without any type of oil or butter. So halfway through, I am going to baste the fish with the basting sauce. Wonderfully simple!

While the fish is in the oven, I am bringing about 1 cup of water to a boil in a medium saucepan for the couscous. I have added a pinch of kosher salt, and 1 tablespoon of olive oil instead of butter for health reasons. Once that comes to a boil, I stir in about 2/3 of a cup of whole wheat couscous, cover it, and remove from the heat. Just before plating, I am going to add a bit of lemon zest, then fluff the couscous with a fork.

I now hear my timer going off on the oven for the second time. I check the fish… How do we know when the fish is done? One could simply take a thermometer and insert it into the thickest part of the flesh, when it reads nearly 145F, it is mere seconds from being done. Fish transitions from done to overdone VERY quickly, so I would recommend to watch it closely! I usually use a stoneware baking dish, so the dish holds a tremendous amount of heat after I pull it from the oven and my fish will continue to cook a bit out of the oven. I usually pull it just a smidge early knowing this, but I do need to work quickly. I take a rather hot sauté pan, spray it with some canola cooking spray and sauté off my baby spinach. With a hot pan, it will cook quickly, once all the spinach is nice and wilted, it is done.

So now I can tell you my story on the plating. I wanted to take a nice, haute, photo to put up here so certain eyes see it and become impressed with my plating techniques (you know who you are). But being me, Mr. A.D.D., I simply forgot to pay attention to detail. I placed a bed of sautéed Baby Spinach on the plate, took my circular food mold and scooped in my couscous. I placed a nice portion of fish on top of the bed of couscous, garnished it with a sprig of cilantro and a slice of lime and called it a day! DOH! Once I took the photo and dined on the fish, I rememebered that I had a bit of chipotle basting sauce left that I was going to drizzle around the fish! Yet another lesson learned!

So now after about no more than 30 minutes, we have supper! Open up a chilled bottle of Pinot Grigio (I like The Houge from the Yakima Valley for halibut) and pour a glass for you and your significant other! I hope you enjoy this recipe!

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